§ SIR JOHN HAYsaid, that before putting the Question of which he had given Notice relating to certain papers submitted to Sir Alexander Milne, he wished to read a letter he had received from that distinguished officer. The letter, which was dated March 23rd, said—
You no doubt recollect the three estimates on the 'Megæra' Papers, page 184, and at page vii. of the Report, with my signature and approval of the same, for £250, at the bottom. I wrote and requested to see the original papers, and it turns out that I never saw these estimates—never saw even the papers on which they were written, and my signature does not exist on the papers at all; but my approval is on the submission of the Controller, at page 181.—Yours truly,A. MILNEHe had, therefore, to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty, with reference to No. 184, printed at page 595 of the Appendix to the Evidence of the "Megæra" Commission, and referred to by the Commissioners in Clause 10 of the Report, Whether the said Document as a whole was ever submitted to Sir Alex- 1548 ander Milne, whose approval it purports to bear; and, whether Document 184 does not consist of separate Documents, one of which only (that for the smaller Estimate) was ever submitted to Sir Alexander Milne for his consideration and approval?
§ MR. GOSCHENIn reply, Sir, to the Question of the hon. and gallant Admiral, I have to state that he is quite accurate in the main portion of his Question. The document was not as a whole ever submitted to Sir Alexander Milne; but the error arose from the printer not having left the proper space between the documents. No doubt, upon those who had not seen the original documents a wrong impression would be produced. I, however, wrote a letter to the gallant officer, which I have no doubt will satisfy him as to the facts.